Twin political murders rock Alappuzha; prohibitory orders for two days
Kerala’s coastal Alappuzha district was rocked by back-to-back killings of two party leaders, the first belonging to the SDPI and the second to the BJP, leading to clamping of prohibitory order by police on Sunday.
Following the killing of an SDPI state secretary, a BJP leader was hacked to death subsequently in 12 hours and prohibitory order under CrPC section 144 was imposed in the entire Alappuzha district on Sunday, district officials said.
K S Shan, the state secretary of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in Kerala, was brutally attacked on Saturday night while he was on his way back home and his party alleged that the RSS was behind it.
Shan succumbed to his injuries at a Kochi hospital around midnight, police said. Hours later, BJP’s OBC Morchas state secretary Ranjeet Sreenivas was hacked to death in his home by some assailants who barged into his house on Sunday morning, police said.
Union minister N Muraleedharan blamed the Kerala government for the surge in killings.
.@VijayanPinarayi‘ Goondaraj takes yet another precious life.@BJP4OBCMorcha State Secretary Adv. Renjith Sreenivasan hacked to death by SDPI goons@CPIMKerala rule turning the state into a killing field.
No Law & Order
No security for citizens
Killers go scot-free. Shame! pic.twitter.com/VOfxJKrkeO— V Muraleedharan / വി മുരളീധരൻ (@VMBJP) December 19, 2021
Police said it suspects the fatal attack on Sreenivas, also a member of the BJP state committee, was in retaliation to the killing of Shan.
The SDPI leader was on his way home when a car rammed into his bike and as he fell down, the assailants assaulted him leading to his death, police said.
With the BJPs leader’s killing, prohibitory order was clamped.
“Such heinous acts are dangerous. Strict action would be taken,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
State Police Chief (SPC) Anil Kant said that senior police officers were camping in the district and additional forces have been deployed there.
He said that Additional Director General of Police-Law and Order would lead the probe.
Kant also said a state-wide alert has been announced and all District Police Chiefs have been directed to closely monitor the law and order situation there and if required, prohibitory orders would be imposed and additional forces would be deployed.
(With Agency inputs)
